


Day 5 - Noise

by ReaderRose



Series: 30 Days of Writing [5]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: 30 Days of Writing, Character Study, Gen, Post-Undertale Pacifist Route
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-06
Updated: 2018-03-06
Packaged: 2019-03-27 16:51:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 596
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13885044
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ReaderRose/pseuds/ReaderRose
Summary: Papyrus hates the city. It's just too noisy.





	Day 5 - Noise

**Author's Note:**

> I always liked the headcanons that Papyrus gets a bit overloaded by a lot of noise and by the surface when he first arrives there, and the other ideas I had for today's theme just weren't working for me, so I decided to go with this and lay down.

Papyrus never liked cities.

It's probably surprising, given what a hip and busy skeleton he is! But cities are, primarily, very loud. There's a lot of noise, a lot of movement, a lot of people, but generally not a lot of friends. People in the cities don't want to stay and chat. He holds a door, and doesn't even get a thank-you! There are so many people but it's impossible to meet anyone.

But mainly, the problem is the noise.

It's always great at first! His visits into the Capital after moving away were quite fun early in the day! But then, slowly, it would build, like tar over his bones, or lead inside them, each sound in the world around him adding a drop to the weight holding him down. By the end of the day he would be cranky, snappish and miserable, and all he would want was to go home.

Coming to the Surface and moving into the city had been different! At least initially! 

At first, every second was filled with wonder and delight!!! He wanted to visit every shop, explore every street, meet every human! He wanted to ride a bus, and he did! And it was fantastic! And he was able to ignore all the stares, the commotion, the thousands of conversations, the street lights and their befuddling changing colors, the rules for walking and the rules for waiting and all the cars and clambering footfalls and noise, noise, noise, noise.

But eventually he got used to the excitement, and everything is still so loud.

He soundproofs his room, just as it had been back home in Snowdin (a simple task for a creative and ingenious skeleton such as himself!), but that can't protect him when he isn't home. The music of the city takes its toll on him, and he starts to feel… kind of… bad.

Overwhelmed.

Listless.

Homesick.

But there is no Snowdin to go back to. No one's there anymore. Everyone is here.

Even if it was a cave, Snowdin was so open! It was fresh and bright and clear! Everyone was friendly, and they always said hello! He could go out into the woods and make his own noise, or enjoy the quiet! There were plenty of places to work and to build, and everyone knew everyone, and everything was so different. He loved exploring the woods, feeling the wind across his bones as it passed through the trees. There was plenty of noise, of course, but it was all in harmony, gentle and unique, not the clatter and chatter and clash of the city.

He becomes a bit reclusive. He stays at home. He doesn't go places. He doesn't do things. It's just too much and he's just not feeling up to it.

 

Then one day he realizes: the city is not the surface. There are highways and train tracks and oceans and rivers and more to the world than he has ever had reference to imagine.

He doesn't have to stay in the city! There's no barriers! He can go wherever he wants!

And it's a thought that could have been scary, but he has never been more ready. He talks to travel agents, he gets a licence, he saves up for his car, and Papyrus plans the greatest journey any monster had undertaken in well over a thousand years!

It's everything he ever dreamed of, and it's possible, right now! 

 

The day comes, and everyone shows up to wish him well, as he drives off into the countryside to find his perfect silence. 


End file.
